SpaceX Nearly Succeeds in Landing Rocket for Reuse
SpaceX, the private space company founded and owned by Elon Musk, successfully delivered a load of supplies to the International Space Station, but failed to land the rocket on a floating platform on its return to Earth.
Bloomberg reports that the SpaceX nearly accomplished the feat of landing the rocket, which would have been an historical first for rocketry and space travel. The rocket almost nailed the landing, but had an issue at the last moment, causing a hard landing.
On his Twitter account, Elon Musk said the rocket failed to land because it ran out of hydraulic fluid to control its landing operations moments before it was set to touch down on the landing platform, which was floating around 200 miles off the coast of Jacksonville, FL, according to The New York Times.
Musk also said the rocket itself was fine, but that the landing platform sustained some damage and would have to be repaired.
Before the failed landing, the rocket delivered 5,200 pounds of supplies like tools and rations to the International Space Station, according to Bloomberg. SpaceX currently has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to carry out such supply missions.
The ability for SpaceX to successfully land a rocket that was sent into space has enormous ramifications for both the business and science of space travel. Typically, rockets are only used once. This means the enormous amounts of technical know how and material required to build and launch a rocket cannot be recycled, keeping the costs of space travel and scientific research staggeringly high.
By perfecting the reusable rocket, SpaceX will drastically reduce the cost of access to space, allowing poorer countries and universities to conduct their own research and space missions more easily.
